Windows 11/10 upgrade stuck at blank screen
Before we go ahead to find a solution, here is a brief description of the error. There are two of them. Microsoft points the problem towards Avast Behavior Shield which is in conflict with a Windows 10 Update. While Avast has released an update to fix this issue, you will have to restore your system to a point from where a fix can be performed. Users may also find that their Update screen is stuck at the Choose your keyboard layout screen, It seems even though some of the users have tried performing a rollback, there is some problem. So our first method is to repair the rollback, and in case you are stuck at any point, switch to the second method.
1] Use Command Prompt to repair Windows Rollback
Here we will use command bcdedit. This command-line tool is to manage Boot Configuration Data (BCD). BCD files provide a store that is used to describe boot applications and boot application settings. So when you are the screen where it gets stuck, follow the steps below: This will initiate the Windows Rollback, and restore your system to the previous version of Windows. Once it completes, it’s best not to upgrade manually, and wait for a notification from the Windows Update to notify you about an upgrade.
2] Perform an in-place upgrade
In this method, we will try to trick the installation process as if there is another copy of Windows 10 Installed. We will rename the Windows.old folder to protect your personal files from being overwritten in certain scenarios. To restore your system, you will need:
A blank USB drive with at least 8 GB of disk spaceAnother working Windows PC that you can use to create a bootable Windows 10 device.
In case things go south upgrading an in-place upgrade, the procedure of which has been shown in this post on Windows 11/10 Upgrade stuck at Choose your keyboard layout screen. Now let’s follow the steps below: Once this is complete, we are now back to our usual desktop screen, and from here we can kick-start Window 10 installation manually. Since your access will be limited if the actual desktop doesn’t get loaded, we will use Task Manager to launch the Windows 10 Setup.exe which is available in the USB.
Right-click any blank area on the taskbar, and then select Task Manager > More details > Select File, then Run new task.In the dialog box that appears, check the box for Create this task with administrator privileges.Select Browse, and select the setup.exe file which is available on the USB drive.This will kickstart the Windows 10 Upgraded. However, make sure to uncheck the option which tries to check for new updates
Once the upgrade is complete, you can recover all your files from the Windows.old.bak folder. Hope this works for you!
How do I restart the Graphics Driver in Windows?
If you do not see anything on your screen except for a black screen, then you can use the keyboard shortcut Windows key + Ctrl + Shift + B to reload. The monitors will blink a couple of times as the driver is restarted. If you have multiple monitors, you should see it happening for each of them.
Can I interrupt a Windows Upgrade process if I can still see the desktop?
If the Upgrade process has not restarted the PC and doesn’t show any warning asking you not to reboot, then it’s safe. The upgrade process at the initial stages downloads the files, backups up existing folders. Even if this process is interrupted, there will be no harm done. So yes you can interrupt the process while you can still see the desktop.
